Wych in the Whale
by Cricket and Bad Wolf
Summary: Barlow meets Cathaline awwwwyeaaaaah.


Please excuse the suck. This was for an English assignment where we had to have two book characters meet. Yes, my English teacher assigned fanfiction.

-Cricket

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><p>Grabbing her pendant, stuffing the sage in it and lighting it up Cathaline Bannett set to work in reversing the work of a cradlejack. The infected man was chained to the floor of a room on the fantastical ship Leviathan, although she would be able to preform the rite more effectively in her own wych room back in London, she would have to make do. She kept careful watch on the man's eyes as they slowly turned amber, but as long as the pupils still stayed circular he would be fine.<p>

Dr. Nora Darwin Barlow on the other hand, being a Darwinist and Scientist, was absolutely fascinated with the wych-kin in general. She had never really respected this part of London, but with farther inspection, she had come to realize how troubled they really had it.

She herself had experimented with life threads of certain animals, but never human DNA-as these were. The woman didn't really believe in them before, she was sure it was just shell-shock from the War of Austrian Secession, but there it was, in front of her face, and she could not deny her eyes, for it would destroy the credibility of her own research and therefore destroy her own name.

"Ms. Bennett, how may I assist you?" she smoothed her skirt a bit loftily and ran her fingers around the rim of her trademark Bowler hat. She was a tad shocked at the shortness of the woman's hair and the unnatural colour of the dual black and red. What really made her skin crawl was the pants, but being a woman of science in their day and age, she wasn't one to enforce stereotypes. She held her tongue as the woman carved something around the seizing body.

It was a disgusting thing, the fingers locking up around the joints, and slowly the nails were growing over the fingers. His teeth elongating past his lips every other time she glanced at him. Whatever he was turning into would ultimately be overly grotesque and unpleasent for the other passengers and crew.

"If you so wish," she shot her a rather cocky grin, "Hand me the pig's blood-ah, actually if you really want to help, please pour it into the grooves in the floor." she rested on her heels, acting a tad too lofty, but she was always one to push the personal boundaries of others-especially people working for the government, men and women alike. "And please, address me as Cathaline." she placed one hand on the floor as the other brunette drizzled the blood on the floor.

"What is this, if I may ask." the doctor whispered, a small hint of wonder in her voice at the series of events unraveling on her ship.

"It is a rite to reverse the transformation of a cradlejack. It acts like a venom, similar to a cobra and other such poisonous reptiles, but it turns the human's DNA into that of the cradlejack."

"How many chromosomes?"

"Around six added and three lost."

"What about the brain?"

"Broca's and Wernike's area is completely obliterated, absolutely no language comprehension nor diction, practically obsolete save for a few grunts. Only emotion registering in them is anger and hunger. Their vision increases tenfold at least-"

"Is 'tenfold' really an accurate measurement?" a rather skeptical Dr. Bowler asked.

"Would you like to get closer and see for yourself Ms. Nora Darwin Bowler?" Cathaline retorted, emphasizing the name of her grandfather as if it were the most identifying thing about her.

"Doctor." she corrected, adjusting her boffin's jacket. "How long does this particular spell-thing last?"

"You mean how long does it take to perform? Anywhere from twelve hours to two days depending on how far along the transformation has had to set in. Luckily, we got your man in less then fifteen minutes, so it's not too far along. It should be relatively short as long as we keep an eye on him."

"Why not just kill him?" the woman asked a legitimate question, he wasn't too important, and they could pick up another Middie at the next stop. Middies weren't the most difficult thing to come by, even the Clanker boy Alek would probably be able to preform as well as the clumsy rope rider.

"Because, regardless of whether or not he's a boy, or at a lower rank, it is my duty to preserve the life of all, save them from the wych-kin."

And the doctor had to ponder this. What if she were to save all her failed experiments in favor of the fact it would be a simple addition to society?

"Cathaline Bennett, I must say you are a very interesting woman in the least." Nora Bowler raised an obviously trimmed brow-in keeping watch of the snarling thing as it pulled at the restraints and snapped it's yellowed teeth at the pendant swinging around its head-and sat back in her chair.

After a few hours, Cathaline had retired form her duties and in her place her apprentice Mr. Thaniel Fox-a very strange boy in his early twenties, revealing just the tiniest hint of the other woman's age.

The two had retired to the scientist's quarters after eating to discuss their trials and tribulations as prestigious women in their respective fields of fabrication and wych craft, a new found respect for something not more than a few hours ago, they were severely prejudiced against.

With their reverence regarding the fantastical, the two would soon to find a partnership blooming under the skin of the floating whale of a ship.


End file.
